Slugging it out

Analysis: VP debate substantive on Iraq

By

WilliamL. Watts

WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- It was no garden party in Cleveland Tuesday night, as Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. John Edwards each attempted to put the verbal smackdown on his opponent in a tense and often contentious debate.

While each candidate was quick to accuse the other of "distortions" and "inaccuracies," and both strayed at times into the realm of the disingenuous, the showdown largely stuck to substantive issues.

The debate, at least when it came to Iraq and the war on terror, showed that the opposing running mates can hold their own.

Cheney improved on President Bush's lackluster performance in last week's initial presidential debate. Where Bush had appeared alternately annoyed and flustered, Cheney was direct and spoke evenly, even when delivering some tough put-downs on Edwards and Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry.

Edwards' trial lawyer background showed through, as he sketched notes while Cheney spoke, outlining what turned out to be generally well-crafted, on-message rebuttals.

Moreover, Tuesday night's match-up gave the candidates the opportunity to clarify missteps and underline assertions their bosses made in last week's first presidential showdown

The sharpest exchanges of the night, unsurprisingly, focused on Iraq, with Edwards, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, charging that Cheney and President Bush had repeatedly failed to be "straight with the American people."

"Mr. Vice President, there is no connection between the attacks of September 11th and Saddam Hussein. The 9/11 Commission has said it. Your own secretary of state has said it. And you've gone around the country suggesting that there is some connection. There is not," Edwards said.

"The senator has got his facts wrong. I have not suggested there's a connection between Iraq and 9/11, but there's clearly an established Iraqi track record with terror," Cheney replied.

Vice presidential debates are rarely viewed as consequential turning points, and Tuesday night's match will soon be overshadowed by Friday night's rematch of the tops of the tickets, when President Bush meets Sen. John Kerry for a "town hall" type debate in St. Louis.

But the 90-minute debate, held on the campus of Case Western Reserve University, likely drew more attention than most vice presidential match-ups after polls showed Kerry scoring a win in last week's debate, which was limited to foreign policy and national security issues, allowing him to narrow or erase Bush's small but significant single-digit leads in several polls.

Cheney argued that Kerry last week had stated that pre-emptive military action could come only if it met a "global test," a phrase the Bush-Cheney camp has used derisively in ads and on the stump.

"A little tough talk in the midst of a campaign or as part of a presidential debate cannot obscure a record of 30 years of being on the wrong side of defense issues," Cheney said.

Edwards charged that Cheney was misrepresenting Kerry's statement.

Kerry "also said very clearly that he will never give any country veto power over the security of the United States of America. Now, I know the vice president would like to pretend that wasn't said, and the president would too. But the reality is it was said," Edwards said.

The candidates also previewed some of the topics likely to loom large in Friday night's debate, which will be open to all topics, including the economy.

Here, the vice presidential debate offered little that hasn't been heard repeatedly from both sides for months.

Edwards dutifully noted that Bush remains on track to be the first president since Herbert Hoover to see a net loss of jobs over the course of a presidential term.

Cheney argued that 1.7 million jobs have been created in the past year and that the tax cuts signed into law by President Bush over the course of his term have helped spur a recovery. Both repeated pledges to halve the deficit -- Edwards in four years, Cheney in five -- pledges that budget hawks generally dismiss as unrealistic.

Meanwhile, one of the night's most memorable and potentially controversial lines was also among the most trivial. It came from Cheney, who accused Edwards, a one-term senator, of amassing a poor attendance record.

While that may be fair game, Cheney personalized the attack with the observation: "I'm up in the Senate most Tuesdays when they're in session. The first time I ever met you was when you walked on the stage tonight."

The Kerry-Edwards campaign, after the debate, sent out an e-mail that included a C-Span screenshot from a February 2001 National Prayer Breakfast that shows Cheney and Edwards standing together.

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